DAYTON, Ohio — Demario McCall caught the ball near his team’s goal line for a kickoff return, headed right up the middle of the field and then bounced outside. As soon as McCall — a signee in Ohio State’s 2016 class — got to the edge and had just one defender to beat, in his mind the play was over.
Why?
“I don’t lose one-on-ones,” he said afterward as he flashed a giant smile.
McCall’s assumption that he would wind up in the end zone was right as he opened Saturday’s OHSFCA North-South Classic for his team with a 99-yard kick return for a touchdown. He would score again later in the game, too, on a 62-yard touchdown pass when he ran right down the seam past a linebacker.
“They had to play man-to-man and I had a linebacker on me man-to-man so that’s a lose-lose situation for them,” McCall said of his second touchdown.
The confidence certainly isn’t lacking. But why would it? When you’re an athlete as explosive as McCall there’s a certain mindset that you need to have.
A four-star prospect and the nation’s No. 44 overall recruit, according to 247Sports’ composite ratings, McCall is one of Ohio State’s highest-ranked signees in the 2016 class. He’s a hybrid running back/wide receiver who said the Buckeyes recruited him to play the famous H-back role in Urban Meyer’s offense.
He seems like the perfect fit for that spot.
“I’m an athlete,” he said. “I can play slot, receiver, tailback, H-back, quarterback, defense. I’ll do it all. Just an all out athlete.”
Since he officially signed to play with the Buckeyes back in February, McCall said he has been getting up at 4:30 every morning to get to the gym by 5 a.m. before school starts. He has been working to gain weight — McCall said he currently weighs 180 pounds — while not losing any of his speed.
“I do speed training every day so as long as my speed stays the same I’m going to let them put the weight on me,” McCall said. “When I get there they’re going to make me eat how I’m supposed to eat [to put weight on].”
It’s a very similar path to the one of current Ohio State senior Dontre Wilson, who was also a highly-touted recruit with a skillset close to that of McCall’s coming out of high school. Wilson had to gain weight early in his career, but has been bogged down a bit by injury the last two seasons so he hasn’t yet reached his full potential in college.
The hope for the the Buckeyes’ coaching staff is McCall develops into the type of player they envisioned when they recruited Wilson back in 2013.
McCall sees the fit.
“When I watch Ohio State, I just see me working [there],” he said. “But there’s athletes there who are doing everything I can do right now, so all I’ve gotta do is go put in my work and listen to the coaches and I can do the same things they’re doing.”
Saturday at Welcome Stadium was an opportunity for McCall to showcase his game at the high school level one last time. He wore his Army All-American helmet while everybody else playing in the game had on their high school one. McCall wanted to show he was a little bit different than the rest of the players and he did that with a pair of electrifying plays.
Like many of the incoming freshmen at Ohio State, it’s unclear right now if McCall will play during his first season. If he’s able to make plays during fall camp similar to the ones he made at the high school level, though, it may be hard to keep him off the field due to his ability to change games.
McCall will report in June like the rest of the Buckeyes’ freshmen who aren’t yet on campus. That time is approaching quickly.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about being on campus already,” he said.
